2004 In Review: Part III
Intro
2004 took a definite turn after this point in the year. J, Cole, & I all broke up with girlfriends & we were all determined to party any problems away, mission accomplished. I think I drank more this summer than I have my entire life. I don’t know if we could have kept up the pace we had going if school hadn’t start but I sure would have liked to try. I will also say that although it sounds as if I am bragging about our newly found drinking prow ness throughout here, but that is really not the case. Yes, we did kick a ton of ass all summer but there was no drunk driving & I never missed a day of work. It would be the ultimate understatement to say I am a little high strung at times. I think what I found in drinking is a time where I can forget everything in my life & just BS & let loose. It is weird because before this summer, I had panic attacks constantly. Literally every time I went out in public I had one. Once I started partying hard this summer, it all went away for some reason. I went from having them daily to simply not having them at all. This kind of explains why I went from being someone that hid in the corner at parties to someone that genuinely enjoys meeting new people. I think it showed in my demeanor.
June
Boring story but but something exciting for me, I finally finished painting my room & putting new carpet in. Before this my room was a hot shade of pink…lol. I refused to bring any girlfriend over to see it. It is funny that I finished it after I become single. I am going to have to put pics of my room up just to show how great of a job I did. I took a ton of inspiration from Bob Vila & Norm Abrams. This project was seriously in motion since before I originally starting working in Kaukauna. I had some free time & just finished it all finally.
Country
July
For the 4th weekend I rolled with Jaren to his family get together in Tomahawk. If you didn’t know, the Boogaard’s know how to party. We got there at 1 in the morning & drank until dawn. You can see the pics of us at dawn in the 4thof July album. I learned a valuable lesson this weekend. Don’t attempt to make brats over a fire at 4 in the morning drunk. Some how we did manage to eat ½ raw brats but that taste still sticks in my mouth. The next day we went on this rope swing that soared out over a river at least 30 feet up. Very hardcore & it was awesome.
On the actual Sunday the 4th I rolled with my sister to see Tim McGraw at Summerfest. That performance absolutely rocked although I say that every time I see him though. Summerfest kicks ass, that’s all I am going to say on that.
Right about here is where we all really started partying hard. It seemed like every other night we were drinking at someone’s place.
Next up on the docket was J’s cabin in the middle of July. I will never forget this shindig as long as I live. This will be a short description because I feel 5 Blogs could be dedicated to it. Between J acting like a different animal every night of the week to Miah’s wood gathering runs, this was truly a memorable few days. Those 4 days kind of felt like one when I think back. The Final Solution beer bong brought drinking to a whole different level. I never thought I would see beer explode when it hit a man’s face from a second story balcony. Thank God I did not try its wicked power. It would have owned my ass. I also tried blowing up J & that last night by throwing match on the pile as he was pouring gas. Later, as bomb after bomb was thrown in, our circle spread further & further from the fire. OMG that was a blast. My favorite memory was waking up in the morning wondering how all our once good chairs got holes burned in them. There are bigger plans for this year…
This started 15 straight days of me being drunk. Mind you I held a fulltime job at the time. I know a certain friend of mine may have had much longer streaks but coming from the guy who didn’t drink 3 years ago, this was a rather impressive feat. It almost sickens me when I think back to those 2 weeks, holy crap.
The summer wasn’t all partying & drinking for me. I began volunteering at Paul’s Pantry in
August
August 8th was the Brickyard 400 & it was awesome this year. Last year may have been the best race I have seen, this year, historically was pretty special. J rolled down for the weekend & we managed to stay up something like 66 of 72 hours or something like that. It was ridiculous we even tried but I can laugh about it now as we made it home safe with my bro playing the role of relief driver starting in a little town called
Madden 2005 was released this year & like most I went down to pick it up the day it came out. What is weird is that I just never have gotten into the game this year. There are just too many other things you can do than sitting in front of a TV playing Madden. I still love the game but as of a week ago my game count is at 43, if you consider I played well over 700 games the last 2 years this is quite the accomplishment.
Right before the end of the summer the K-town & L-Chute Crews merged to rolled down to Six Flags Great America. This trip rocked. The race down there was awesome. Chris learned city driving D. Schwa style. It’s all about knowing the ends of your car. Once we made it there, (A wrong exit deterred our advance.) we attacked the park. I have never been on so many coasters in one day.
I almost forgot one of the funnier stories of the summer too. So Kantelberg & I are pitted against each other in a carnival game. I had already won him a stuffed animal to bring home to his girlfriend so it was my goal to fully embarrass him. It was just the two of us & we are just about to start when these 2 kids roll up. I inform them they should probably wait until we are done as we will whoop their asses in the game. The kids decide they are up to the challenge & join in. I started out slow but quickly made my move. Coming from last, I took a dramatic victory with a wicked last shot. The whole game I was talking smack but just as I hit the shot to win I began talking mad shit. OK, I was screaming at the top of my lungs a victory celebration that would have been more befitting for a Super Bowl win. This happened just as the rest of our group rejoined us. I don’t think anyone present will ever forget those 5 minutes of jubilant celebration.
Six Flags kind of foreshadowed my last day at Little Chute. I have never put more effort into a task & received so little back. Had I quit at the start of the summer as I had contemplated, I would have never fully appreciated what the experience meant to my life. You often learn your greatest lessons from your biggest failures. In my 3 years at L-Chute, I leaned enough lessons for a lifetime. The number one lesson I learned through the experience is that second chances aren’t always easy to come by & to take advantage of them when they do present themselves. There were a few people that always stuck by me through thick & thin & I will never forget their loyalty. Through the summer, there were also several people that gave me a second chance as I gave them the same. I can’t emphasize how much this meant to me. I may fuck up once but rarely twice. People come & go from your life but our stock crew this summer is a group of individuals I will never forget. Work began to feel like a family during this summer & I, for the 1st time in 2 1/2 years, began to look forward to work. I finally took the time to get to know people & they gave me that same second look. I think we all learned we had far more things in common than we had different. For whatever reason, 15 people with completely different personalities bonded like brothers & sisters. From the full out guerrilla assault on the milk cooler to 3 point shoot outs with damaged dairy, it seemed we found a way to have fun every day. Time will tell what paths we all will take, but for that time we had a blast.
Back to my last day,
Hartjes began running readings that night & I just decided to leave. I let myself out & walked to my car. Just before sitting in my car, I turned back to look at the building one more time. I actually began to cry, tears running down my face & everything. I don’t think, until that moment, I had realized just how much that store had changed me as a person. I went from a fairly cocky, carefree person, to completely depressed & bitter , & became an entirely different person in the end. There isn’t a day I don’t think of something from that store. I don’t think of the bad, I always think of it when I need a laugh. I think God presents us with challenges in life to test us. Had I never gone to that dingy little store, I don’t know if I would have ever figured out who I was & what I wanted to do with my, life. Although it took so much from me personally, in retrospect, it gave me so much too.
Well that’s part III of my YIR. I think it is evident in my writing that I began to appreciate life in general a lot more. A couple people told me they were surprised with how sentimental I have been in these. It isn’t really that it is a different side of me, just a side I never really show to those outside those closest to me. Anyway, my 3rd Blog in 4 days! I guess I am making up for my lack over the last few weeks. Until the next…
